Presidents Day Holiday

Seattle schools trim break that parents hate

After years of complaints about mid-winter break – a week-long, much maligned vacation in Feburary – the Seattle School Board decided Wednesday to shorten the break for the 2012-13 school year.

Instead of five days off, which included President's Day, the board chopped the break to two days. The break will essentially be a four-day weekend, spanning the Friday before President's Day to Monday, already a school holiday. 

The move follows other school districts that have done away completely with mid-winter break. Many parents have long complained about the break, an annual scramble for additional child care that comes on the heels of two other holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Day and December's two-week break.

The shortened vacation doesn't mean more school days for kids, but more continuity for teachers, many of whom have complained about the interruption.

"By shortening mid-winter break, we can provide greater instructional continuity in the spring semester as there will be three more days of school in February," Cathy Thompson, the district's assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, said in a statement Thursday.

"As a further benefit to our students, this additional instruction time takes place prior to scheduled district-wide academic assessment."

The change will not take effect for the next school year, 2011-12 ( pdf ), which will retain the traditional five-day break and June 20 as the last day of school.

The shorter break will take effect the following school year, 2012-13 ( pdf ), which will end school earlier, on June 14.

Visit seattlepi.com's home page for more Seattle news. Contact Vanessa Ho at 206-448-8003 or vanessaho@seattlepi.com , and follow her on Twitter as @vanessaho .